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Archive | July, 2005

I’ve often heard activists and independent media makers express a sense of inadequacy or longing for a time or place other than now and here, stemming from the belief that it was better then or is better elsewhere.

At the height of 1968’s upheaval, activists at Michigan State felt dismayed that they were not strong and powerful, like those in Ann Arbor. Militants in Ann Arbor measured themselves unfavorably against the struggle at Columbia in New York. And at Columbia or Cornell or Berkeley, organizers were unhappy that they were not meeting the high bar set by the May Day events in France, where workers and students brought the government to the brink. The challenge now, as then, is living as a radical organizer in your own time, your own place. The difficulty then and now is working away during what the great educator and founder of Highlander Myles Horton called Valley Times. It involves simultaneously acting and doubting.

According to Broadcasting and Cable (sorry, no free story beyond the summary), Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold connected the dots between radio payola, as being investigated by the NY attorney general. Of course, he’s suggesting legislation, perhaps similar to the “Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act,” he introduced in 2003.

Similar to the media reform bill recently introduced by NY’s Rep. Hinchey, I don’t think the Democrats have enough Republicans on their side, especially in the House, to get a serious reform bill through Congress right now. But they can definitely use growing public awareness and outrage to their advantage — I doubt many radio listeners are willing to defend payola.

This all can make good leverage when it comes time to actually write the Telecommunications Act of 2006, where a lot of the details get horsetraded and worked out in committee. This works to favor of media reformers because Senate Republicans have been more open to this issue than those in the House, and negotiations will tend to favor the Senate.

But do not get too excited or optimistic — this will be about porkbarrel horsetrading, and the pro-consolidation and rape of the public interest Bush administration is still in power with Republican domination of the Congress. It will be ugly sausage making at its most disgusting.

Yet, the hopeful element is that there should be more public awareness than in 1996, and many Congresscritters will be forced into paying a little more than lip service to their constituents on these issues. Don’t expect miracles…

And don’t stop agitating and making media waiting for salvation to be delivered. It won’t, and we’re going to need the grassroots, independents and the pirates to keep reminding us how much better and just our media environment can and should be.